gizmo our gray squirrel video

A lil recent video of my gray squirrel, Gizmo.  You can read more about Gizmo here    I want to do some more vids soon where he is out of his cage. :)

And here are a couple more vids of her when she was a baby baby squirrel and tiny gizmo

Today I became a Mommy 14 years ago :)

 Yup, this morning, fourteen years ago, I gave birth to my first child...a son. It was supposed to be a home birth. I was in a very weird cult like religious group at the time, and doctors were considered pretty taboo...so, I had not had a single check up etc thru the whole pregnancy. It turned out I had preclampsia toxemia really badly and did not even know it...tho idid know I was very, very tired all the time and super swollen up. 

 The night before he was born, I went in to labor. His father was going to deliver him. I had no midwife or anything. However, I started bleeding a lot, and my mom, who had all six of her babies at home, came over to check on me. She said I was bleeding way too much and convinced me to go to the hospital. At the hospital the nurse taking my blood pressure just dropped the thing on the ground and went running out to find a doctor cuz my blood pressure was so high, and my mom told me that if I did not get the baby out right that instant, I was going to end up getting drugged up or something. so, I pushed as hard as I could, and his father caught him before the nurse even got back in the room. So, it was at a hospital, but still not a birth where a doctor is present, tho we still had to pay the doc anyhow. lol.

 My second child I had at home just fine with her father delivering her and had a healthy pregnancy that I did not see a doctor during. I do, however, recommend having a doc or midwife.

 He turned out to be a healthy nine pound boy. 

 And now he is a teenager who loves playing Skyrim, Call of Duty 2 Black Ops, and messing with his ipod and watching Kenshin. So, he turned out pretty cool. :) He is very ticklish and likes collecting pokemon and the big wave pool at wisconsin dells. 

DC electricity, no indoor plumbing, and amish, and a hobby farm

When I was a kid, we had no in door plumbing. We had an out house and a chamber pot, and eventually one of those portable camper type toilets, and we hauled our drinking water from town.
 We also had DC electricity instead of AC. But the batteries my dad had gotten could not hold a charge very well, so if we had a couple rainy days we had no electricity lol. We had a wood stove for cooking and for heating the house. My dad built a triple bunk bed into a room the size of a large walkin closet that I shared with two of my sisters. We had a number of lil hobby farm type animals..chickens, goats, milk cow, sheep, geese, ducks, a pony, calves, and a horse. I was homeschooled. My parents ended up having six kids total. :)  I am the oldest. My dad is and was a pastor/minister my whole life. For a while my parents were obsessed with the Amish and my dad even made himself amish clothing lol. :) He also drove amish around in a small bus and took me and my sister to get trained to cook by an amish lady. My clothing was usually from a thrift store or handmade, and I did not get much say in the styles etc, and my hair was not cut or trimmed until I was around eighteen. There is a brief glimpse into my childhood lol. I am thankful for my childhood, because it made me appreciate toilets and running water etc etc a lot and electricity. And I liked the opportunity to grow up in the country and be near my folks all day, and their love and dedication to their kids.